Page 3 of Drawn to You

I smile weakly, not knowing what to say.

This assignment is bonkers. That’s what I want to say, but I don’t. And twenty-four seven? Who’s going to take care of my cat, Mr. Darcy?

Jane walks Arnold out and then returns to her office, glaring at me.

“Where was your enthusiasm, Josie?”

My lips part and my eyes widen. “I don’t see how I can do this. What this guy needs is more like a bodyguard.”

“No, he needs someone who can remind him how important optics are. Which is literally your job.”

I sigh softly.

“If you don’t want this assignment, I’ll give it to Monica.”

And see that twit get promoted before me? Never. I need this promotion.

“I want it,” I say. “I just want to succeed, and I’m not sure how.”

“You’re a bright girl. You’ll figure it out.”

A bright girl? I’ll figure it out?

“But...where will I sleep?”

Jane sits down behind her desk, looks at her screen and starts typing. “I’m sure he has a couch, Josie.”

“Do I get my own hotel room if I travel with him?”

She glares at me over the rim of her glasses. “Are you okay in the head? If you’re asleep in a different room, how can you keep track of where he is?”

My aunt wants me to stay in a hotel room with a six-three, one-hundred-ninety-pound man who “likes the ladies.” Just great.

“Listen,” she says, taking off her glasses and setting them on her desk. “I expect you to be within ten feet of this man at all times unless he’s playing in a game, in which case I expect you to be watching that game. You will stick to him like a fly on glue. You will eat with him, you will travel with him, you will sleep in the same room as him. That’s the assignment. And if you don’t want it, I’ll give it to someone who will jump at this opportunity.”

“I want it.”

She shakes her head, exasperated, and puts her glasses back on. “Get your things packed. You start tomorrow. You’ll need to travel light.”

I nod and stand up. “Okay. Thanks.”

Deep down, I wonder if I’m getting this assignment because Jane believes in me or just because it sucks and she doesn’t have the guts to ask another employee to give up their life for the next three months.

Either way, I’m going to succeed. I have to.

CHAPTER TWO

Josie

“Is this a joke?”Dane Foster looks between Arnold and his head coach, Tim Benton.

“Was your public indecency arrest a joke?” Tim fires back at him. “Because if that was all just a prank, we can clear this up real quick.”

Dane hangs his head for a second. “Coach, I couldn’t have known that woman would steal my clothes and handcuff me naked to a park bench.”

I force myself not to smile. Arnold left out that detail yesterday in the meeting with me and Jane. Twenty-four hours have passed since then. I packed up some clothes and toiletries and now I’m in the head coach’s office at the downtown Minneapolis arena where the Mammoths play.

“Funny thing, Dane,” Tim says. “When you don’t get so drunk you pass out, you can stop yourself from ending up in a situation like that.”

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